The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1887-01-23
MR.. vARIAN.
4ctlOn.

IrdISCHluSnb dbAlisS AA41y 10 t>'O
feature of the Assistant Prosecuting At
torney, but the mosE obvious one Is
modestv. Now we are particularly fond
of a modest man. and when we hnd
one. delight in making him known. We
think that Mr.. Varian does not realize
how truly modest and humble he is; 1t
is characteristic of the virtue 10 be in
sensible to itself.L We believe Mr.. Varian
to be modest, because we see him,
month afterF month, content to eat the
crumbs that fall from the grooming
tables of chief; because his ambition
seems satisfied. when he is permitted to
serve Mr.. Robinson Crusoe Dickson as
his man Friday.
Mr.. Dickson is not modest man; an
acre and COW are not enough for. him;
he wants the whole earth, and the full
ness thereof, 'and, therefore, he finds
his humble assistant congenial.
If the defendant be an important
Mormon he is Mr.. Dickson's victim; If
he be a person of no consequence Mr..
Varian is pleased 10 tackle him. If he
bid fair to be found guilty, the chief
claims him as his own; if he be a tough
man to coRvict, the assistant must as
sumo the risk of probable failure. When
the case presents an opportunity for re
putation, Mr.. Dickson has time to con-
duct it; otherwise, he is too busy and
our modest,hero must step forward.
Nor does MIR. Variants modesty and
humility end here. These characterize
tics not only enable him to accept the
leavings of the Attorneys Office with
apparent cheerfulness, but fit him to
undertake without visible objection,
those little schemes of his able chief
which are shade, at least. unprofes-
sional, and which are generally sought
by men of less humility. For in
stance, where representative
of the District Attorneys Office
was necessary, year or SO ago, to re-
fuse to prosecute certain persons for
offenses against the good morals of the
city, Mr.. Varian was pushed forward
and did the work like little man
which he is. He did not hesitate to
throw the cases out of court; he did it
on the high moral ground that the only
obtainable witnesses were of Infamous
character not to be believed on oath.
One would conclude, knowing the char
acter of the men thus maligned that
such statement was sufficiently hum
Bile and degrading; but to Mr.. Varian
! it was but the first step, while the
second was infinitely more Illuminating,
or should have been. But Mr.. Varian
believes IN the scriptural injunction to
descend below all things, in order to
rise above all things, and by such
means he generally gets there; but we
venture the assertion that there is not
member of the bar who would precede,
follow or accompany him in his
methods. Well, when Mr.. Dickson,
too busy to see to the dismissal
Fof the cases referred to, saw fit
to prosecute for conspiracy those wi o
had sought the evidence against the
indecent culprits, he was still too busy
to supervise the matter, and Mr..
Varian was deputed to prosecute,
which he did, and-there's the rub
used the same testimony which he had
/ before pronounced to be infamous and
incredible.
And then came the Thompson trial,
which every lover of justice must depre.
I.cate. The defendant might have been
as innocent of an offense as the babe
but it would be idle to quote the verdict
in his trial as proof of that fact. Es-
corted in triumphal procession from the
scene of his heroic adventure into
Beaver, by a grand jury selected by
himself on open venire; indicted FOL
manslsughter by that same jury, wher
there was probably not Mormon Of
Gentle in the country that thought hi:
offense less than murder; tried by ar
Opcu Ncn1AS jury, CNCAg OnO Va nhOAl
was Gentle and selected by his friends
it may be at his own suggestion; prose
cuted in ,lukewarm manner
, by Mr.. Varian who, it was asserted
failed to elicit from the witnesses fo
the prosecution the important point
: against the prisoner; and to crown tn
farce, the Infamous comedy, defended
} by the public prosecutor. 1t wa
, necessary, no doubt, in the opinion o
: Mr., Dickson that this course should b.
pursued, but Mr.. Dickson was other
} wise engaged, and therefore it fell upol
/ his useful but interruptions man Fri
t day, to conducg the case. The result
: was that the people of Utah, the plain
: tiffs, were without representation o.
g this trial. Mr.. Variants address to til
I jury was published verbatim by tn
= Nsrs. We have read it and pronounc
. it to be plea for the prisoner. The lay
2 may be as Mr.. Varian put it, but Ger
/ tainly it was open to question; 1t wa
-